As reports of youth offenders and retail and organised crime continue to make headlines, newly-appointed Police Minister Ginny Andersen says her priorities for dealing with violators are clear.
Talking to The Indian Weekender, she said, "Since becoming police minister, I have been on the ground and talking to the victims of ram raids and shops where windows have been smashed.”
Andersen took charge on March 20, 2023, becoming the fourth police minister since Labour took office in 2017, and the fifth time the role changed hands. Robberies and ram raids have hit the retailers hard, with many Kiwi-Indians shop owners also falling victim to it.
The death of dairy worker Janak Patel in November 2022, in particular, hit the community hard. Patel was fatally stabbed on November 23, 2022, during a robbery at Rose Cottage Superette in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham. His death sparked nationwide protests over the safety of small businesses and dairies.
Andersen told The Indian Weekender ram raids are on the decline. "We have seen the number of ram raids decrease since August 2022, and I want to see this continue. Tools such as fog cannons are effective for businesses, and the Fog Cannon Subsidy Scheme from MBIE has had a large amount of pickup, which is great.”
The Fog Cannon Subsidy Scheme was rolled out just over a month back, but some store owners say they are not keen on installing fog machines since the devices are not effective in deterring crime.
The subsidy offer allows small retailers like dairies, bottle stores and service stations to apply for the grant of up to $4,000 to install fog machines. Ginny Andersen told The Indian Weekender 500 shop owners had successfully applied for funds as of March 10, 2023.
“Of this, 292 dairy owners have been approved for the scheme. I have been informed that to date, no dairy owner had been declined,” she had said, adding 48 of the 88 fog cannons installed so far have been put up at dairy stores.
Ever since she took over as the police minister, Andersen says she has been talking to small businesses, and that has given her a better handle over how the communities feel about retail crime at present.
“I understand some people feel they are on the front line of crime. New Zealanders deserve to feel safe in their communities. One of my key focus areas as police minister is reducing retail crime. I always want to know how we can work more closely with ethnic communities. Now that we have a Ministry for Ethnic Communities we can do this even more,” she said.
Before becoming the police minister, Andersen worked at NZ Police for about a decade as a non-sworn staff member in the policy team. She started as a Senior Advisor and became Policy Manager at Police National Headquarters. During this time, she was a strategic advisor on Maori, Pacific and Ethnic services, focusing on reducing Maori offending. As policy manager, her two main areas of work were methamphetamine and organised crime.
Lauding her department, she said, “Police do an incredible job every day, and it's important they have the tools and the resources they need to do their job effectively."
In 2004, Andersen became a Labour Party member and later served as the party's vice president from 2015 to 2017. In September 2017, she became a List MP and entered Parliament. In the 2020 election, she won from the Hutt South electorate. When Chris Hipkins became the prime minister in January 2023, he appointed her to his Cabinet, where she took charge of Digital Economy and Communications, Seniors, Small Business, Associate Immigration and Associate Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations departments.
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